Iran Adds Palestine Statehood Wrinkle

UNITED NATIONS—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran wouldn't recognize Israel's right to exist even if the United Nations were to accept a Palestinian state into its ranks.

The Iranian leader's comments Thursday underscored the difficulty the international community would face in establishing a two-state solution to end the Arab-Israeli conflict should Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas succeed in his campaign to win U.N. Security Council support for a sovereign state.

From the floor of the U.N. General Assembly Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waved a 'victory' sign. Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Tehran is the main arms supplier to the militant groups Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both of whom have joined Iran in opposing Mr. Abbas's initiative. Mr. Ahmadinejad in the past has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

"Recognizing the legitimacy of a Palestinian government has nothing to do with the Zionist regime," Mr. Ahmadinejad told a group of reporters gathered at a downtown New York hotel. "The regime is an excuse for the prevention of progress…in the region."

He said the Palestinians should be able to hold a referendum on whether they wanted a two-state solution. "You will see that most of the people will be against the Zionist regime."

Mr. Ahmadinejad's news briefing came amid his seventh trip to New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly.

On Thursday, he again used his speech to the international body to attack U.S. foreign policy and call for the removal of American military forces from the Middle East.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran used his speech before the United Nations on Thursday to charge the U.S. with using the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as an excuse to go to war in the Middle East. Eduardo Kaplan has details on The News Hub.

He also sought to stoke controversy by again questioning the Holocaust, the nature of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the reasons behind the U.S.'s decision to killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this year.

"Would it not have been reasonable to bring to justice the main perpetrator of the incident in order to identify the elements behind the safe space provided for the invading aircraft to attack the twin world trade towers?" Mr. Ahmadinejad said in his speech. "Is there classified information that must be kept secret?"

The Iranian leader's comments caused both the U.S. and French delegations to walk out on his speech. Anti-Tehran groups protested his appearance outside the U.N.'s mid-Manhattan compound.

Still, Mr. Ahmadinejad arrived in New York a much less potent force in Mideast politics.

Many of the leader's closest political advisers have been imprisoned in recent months due to what is believed to be a power struggle between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The democratic surge that has spread across North Africa and the Mideast has also placed Iran's president on the defensive, as his government cracked down on pro-democracy forces in 2009 that were challenging the legitimacy of his re-election.

Mr. Ahmadinejad tried to describe Tehran as at the forefront of political change sweeping the Middle East. But he struggled to square Iran's calls for democratic change with its extensive support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose security forces are accused of killing thousands of civilians in recent months.

Opposition Iranian websites meanwhile ridiculed Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech saying it had nothing new to offer and stuck to his repeated rhetoric. Even the website of conservative parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, a critic of Mr. Ahmadinejad, played the pictures of delegates walking out of the U.N. assembly hall as the top item and mocked what it called "Ahmadinejad's pose" of victory.

Still, Palestinian, Israeli and Western officials have all acknowledged in recent days that Iran could emerge as the primary spoiler of any advances in the Mideast peace process. Mr. Abbas has been competing with Hamas for control of the Palestinian territories in recent years. And Hezbollah led a political coalition in Lebanon that recently overthrew a pro-Western government in Beirut.

Palestinian officials have stressed in their campaign for U.N. recognition there opposition to Iranian policies in the region. But Israeli officials on Thursday seized on Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments as a reason why the Security Council shouldn't back Mr. Abbas's initiative.

"Iran's disdain for the international community is clear, and is exemplified by its continued serial disregard for [U.N.] resolutions…as well as its arms transfers to terrorists," said Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Mr. Ahmadinejad offered few signs of a willingness to find common ground with the West on Middle East policy or Tehran's nuclear program. But the Iranian leader didn't reject a plan discussed by some leaders in the Obama administration of trying to set up a military hotline to Tehran in order to guard against the potential for conflict with Iran in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

"I believe it's good for us to have warning systems to mitigate unwanted clashes" in the Persian Gulf, Mr. Ahmadinejad said.

While the Iranian leader was speaking, hundreds of people gathered outside the U.N. to protest his government, denying that he represented the Iranian people at the international body. One group, called Iran180, staged a mock wedding of Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Assad of Syria.

"These are two people who have been in bed together, secretly, for 30 years," shouted the host of the proceedings on a stage as two people wearing huge masks of the leaders joined hands in the ceremony. "Their love affair has been going on a little too long."

Their wedding cake was yellow, signifying a type of processed uranium used in the production of nuclear fuel.

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